


where the sidewalk ends

by intearsaboutrobots



Category: Original Work
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Literal Sleeping Together, Platonic Cuddling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-27 05:30:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21386893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intearsaboutrobots/pseuds/intearsaboutrobots
Summary: when you're dungeon-diving with a group of badass adventurers, you need to take time to cuddle!or: sometimes 2 dnd characters walk beside each other in the first session and imprint on each other like baby ducklings (they're both baby ducklings in this situation)
Relationships: Yolo & Peladur
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	where the sidewalk ends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [electricshoop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/electricshoop/gifts).

> hello hello! welcome to another dnd fic, this one about the truly beautiful friendship between my character peladur (small gnome paladin, is Babey) and charlie FakeOrchestra's yolo (tiefling, necromancer, named themself yolo as an in-joke). and sometimes u want those characters to be friends and to cuddle, and u can't roll for it so u gotta write it!

Rain dripped off the eaves of the inn. 

Peladur huddled under them, back pressed to the stone, only getting the occasional drip. Their companions had it worse. A fat droplet caught Yolo on the nose, and they scrunched up their face in distaste. Acna had given up entirely on trying to shield herself and stood with her arms crossed, water spattering her snout where it protruded past the roof.

Curudin had gone in to negotiate with the innkeeper, who had taken one look at their soaked party of four (plus one owlbear) and refused to let more of them in until payment was sorted out. They shivered. Before the door had been unceremoniously shut in their face, they'd seen a fire crackling in the hearth... how long could buying a room take?

The door creaked open and Curudin stepped out, looking less than satisfied.

"I got us a room for the night."

Peladur perked up. Curudin raised a hand to cut off their response. 

"But, on a night this wet, we're not the only ones who needed a place to stay. They only had the one room left. Two beds, but we'll still have to share."

Acna crossed her arms, looking unimpressed.

"Are there no other inns in town?"

Peladur's heart sunk at the thought of going back into the rain, but Curudin was already shaking their head.

"In this weather? It's probably the same everywhere. Besides, Peladur already looks like a drowned giant rat."

Peladur realised they'd shrunk into their armor and straightened up. Adventurers weren't put off by things like the weather!

"Oh, no, I'm alright to keep going! I'm dried off a little anyway."

Ryan Reynolds chose that moment to shake himself. Cold water flew from fur and feathers, the spray catching all of them. Peladur's smile wilted a fraction.

Acna sighed and turned back to Curudin.

"It will do. For tonight."

* * *

"I thought you said you got us a _room_." Acna surveyed the space flatly. "This is a closet."

Peladur peered past her. It _was_ small, two cots pushed against opposite walls and not much else. Ryan Reynolds pushed past them all to squeeze through the doorframe and flop down in the middle, taking up all the available floor space.

"See, Ryan's already comfortable! And the beds look nice at least." Peladur jumped up onto one of them and bounced. The frame creaked dangerously. They winced and stopped. "Well. It could be worse."

Curudin raised their hand.

"Dibs on the owlbear."

Acna sighed, resigned, and picked her way past Ryan to lower herself onto the other cot. It groaned in protest, visibly bowing.

"Well, Yolo? You can share with me but I think the bed might split."

"I think I will pass on that. I can share with Peladur." They gave Peladur a questioning glance. "If you don't mind?"

Peladur shook their head, scooting towards the wall. "Not at all! There's plenty of space anyway."

Yolo made their way to the edge of the bed and started unlacing their tall boots, while Peladur busied themself rummaging for a dry tunic in their bag. They'd already abandoned their soaked outer layers to dry in front of the fire, but a chill lingered in their chest. They were groping absently through their bag when their hand brushed soft fur.

Oh.

Mousie.

She was a stuffed mouse, small and brown with dark buttons for eyes. She'd been given to them when they were a baby, before they could even talk, and had been patched and darned a hundred times. They ran their hand over her side up to her whiskers, the point of her nose. They shouldn't have brought her, they knew. Adventurers didn't have stuffed animals. But when they'd been packing, thinking of her left all alone back home... They had tucked her in the bottom of their pack at the last second.

Now the chill in their chest had expanded, and it was hard to breathe past it. They gave Mousie an apologetic squeeze before pushing her back into their bag, fumbling for the tunic they'd been looking for. Tugging it on, they kept their face low. They didn't know what their expression looked like right now, but they were sure their feelings would be clear for anyone to see.

Slipping under the blanket, they curled up tightly, trying to contain the feeling growing in their chest. Now that they'd noticed it, everything seemed to remind them of how far they were from home, feeding the empty chill growing in their chest.

Behind them, Yolo climbed into bed. Their back was only millimetres away from Peladur's, and they could feel the warmth radiating off of them. It just made the cold starker and resentment swelled in them. They felt guilty for it immediately afterwards. They were supposed to be fighting for good, and here they were getting upset at their friend for no reason because they were sad. Were they even worthy of this lance?

"Tomorrow, we're finding somewhere else to stay," Acna said over their spiralling thoughts. She snuffed the candle.

In the darkness, Peladur listened to the creak of Acna's bed as she laid down, Ryan Reynolds' sleepy snuffles, the rain against the stone. They squeezed their eyes shut hard. They'd known taking up this lance meant they'd have to travel, but they didn't think the distance would feel so acute. The weeks or months until they saw their faces again... Tears started to slip down their face and they gave in, turning their face into their pillow to muffle their hitching breaths.

A hand touched their back.

"Peladur?" Yolo's voice was soft. "Are you okay?"

Peladur scrubbed their eyes hard, nodding without turning to look. Yolo's hand shifted, tugging their shoulder, and Peladur allowed themself be rolled over. They ran a sleeve across their face one last time, avoiding Yolo's eyes.

"Are you actually okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

Peladur's voice came out considerably wetter than they'd intended, and even blinking hard they couldn't keep a tear from slipping out. Yolo's brows drew together.

"What's wrong?"

And that was enough to open the floodgates. Peladur surged forward with a sob, their face ending up somewhere in the vicinity of Yolo's neck. Yolo started and patted their shoulder, a little nervously.

"There there?"

Their voice lilted up at the end, making it a question. Peladur gulped for air, trying to slow their tears.

"Sorry," they said into Yolo's collarbone, and then fell into sobs again. Yolo's patting became a little faster.

"Don't be sorry for being sad. Would talking about it help?"

They shook their head, then shrugged.

"I'm not sure. I just," they gulped a breath, "I haven't been away from my family like this before, you know? Not this far and not for so long, even when they started moving out I could still walk into town and say hi, and now who knows how long it'll be until I can talk to them or see them again!"

Yolo's hand had settled on their back now, rubbing in small circles, and let Peladur cry. Their tears were slowing and they felt drained, as if they'd cried out everything they had. Yolo broke the silence, speaking quietly.

"Is there something that would make you feel better?"

"Well... There's something my brother always used to do when I couldn't sleep as a kid." They felt themself blushing. "It's kinda embarrassing though."

Yolo shook their head.

"Not if it makes you feel better. What is it?"

"...Promise you won't make fun of me?"

They felt Yolo nod above them, and took a breath.

"Well... I used to get nightmares really bad when I was little. I'd dream about being lost in a canyon or in the ocean or something, and I wouldn't be able see anyone and no one would answer me..." Peladur realised they were rambling and hurried on. "Anyway, I shared a room with my brother and when I woke up, I'd climb into his bed and he'd sing something until I went back to sleep."

Their cheeks were red-hot, and they were glad it was dark so they didn't have to see Yolo's expression.

"I am not much of a singer," Yolo said, thoughtfully, "but I do know a few songs."

They started humming a tune, quiet and a little uncertain. The melody was unfamiliar, lilting and melancholy. It wasn't anything like home, it didn't fill that hole, but a new warmth kindled in their chest, lifting some of the chill. They shifted to get more comfortable, resting their head against Yolo's chest.

"Thank you," they mumbled, already drifting towards sleep. Yolo gave them a gentle squeeze and continued the song, and Peladur drifted to sleep, warm.

**Author's Note:**

> hello again! thank u for reading this fic, i really hope you enjoyed c: leave a comment or a kudos if you for some reason want more fic of ocs? there will be/should be a 2nd chapter coming to this in which The Tables,, They Turn, but i haven't started it yet so no eta, just u kno. keep ur eyes open.
> 
> and if you'd like to talk to me about dnd characters or platonic sleeping together (or how sporadic my updates are), you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/intearsaboutro1) or [pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.social/intearsaboutrobots) or [tumblr](https://intearsaboutrobots.tumblr.com/)


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